Second Career for Local Woman Reveals a Hidden Talent as Woman Receives Teacher of the Year Award

In a ceremony attended by several local and National educational leaders, Lisa Burrell was the recipient of the 2010 Teacher of the Year Award.  Mrs. Burrell was nominated for the award after several of her peers and students at Terra Centre Elementary  submitted her name for consideration.  In an interview provided by Mrs. Burrell following the ceremony, she informed the Albuquerque Journal that she had always had a desire to help people, but went about it in a much different way during her earlier years.  Following undergraduate school, she was employed as a Federal Probation Officer in Los Angeles, California.  There, she attended graduate school,  pursued an extremely fulfilling career, and climbed the traditional corporate ladder; ultimately serving as the Deputy Chief of Field Supervision for the Central District of California for several years.  She supervised a variety of offenders including: drug and alcohol offenders, white collar offenders, and managed the gang task force.

However, after the birth of her first daughter 11 years ago, she decided to retire early from the Federal Judiciary, and stay home on a full time basis with her children.  Two more children followed shortly after the birth of her first, and she found herself fully immersed in the business of raising a family.  The first indication that she may enjoy a later career in teaching came when she taught her oldest daughter to read at 4 1/2 years of age.  The excitement and self confidence which developed in her daughter following their completion of 100 Easy Lessons on Reading  was truly a life altering experience.

Many years later, after all three of her daughters were in elementary school, she pursued her teaching license.  She was fortunate enough to find employment as a third grade teacher at Terra Centre Elementary, where she is a full time reading specialists.  During the past year, standardized test results reveal that her students  raised their reading levels by two grade levels.  She credits their academic gains to her uncompromising belief that all children are capable of reading exceptionally well, by making her class engaging, and most importantly, by requiring all parents to volunteer in the classroom at least once a month.  While Mrs. Burrell acknowledges the responsibility of teachers, she stresses the importance of involved parents and has found that parents for whom reading instruction is modeled in the classroom,  they are better able to  assist their children's reading efforts at home.  For Mrs. Burrell, literacy is the core of her educational philosophy, and for anyone who enters her classroom and sees the large bulletin board that reads, "THE MORE YOUR READ THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU KNOW THE FARTHER YOU GO!"  you'll find yourself wanting to immerse your children in books!

deomcracy cannot fully exist in the classroom

Just typed this in  front of my 5th grader, and she asked "what is democracy"?   We discussed it a little further, and when I asked her if she thought she could take part in a class that was run as a democracy, she said, "No, that would be crazy!"  Well, there you have it, the functionality of democracy in a 5th grade classroom.  I initially thought that a classroom could definitely have elements of democracy contained within it, but I now believe that not to be the case.  I think that utter chaos would follow, and that at best, we as teachers can only attempt to provide exercises in democracy.  The teacher ultimately has to lead the classroom and provide the structure and instruction.

While we can attempt to include elements of democracy such as allowing students to vote, come up with classroom rules etc., that is not truly democracy, but just an exercise in voting.  I definitely thing that it is  an attempt in the right direction, and an introduction to the idea of democracy...especially for the young learner. 

While certainly we need to educate children in the ways of behaving in a classroom, being respectful to teachers and classmates etc., I sometimes wonder if we are teaching children to be too narrow minded and compliant.  I don't know, there is a delicate balance between raising and creating respectful children who can assimilate in a classroom setting in order to learn, and raising children who are really thinking and asking why.   For me, I think the that the respectfulness and ability to function in the educational system must come first, and then we ask them why, why do you think that is the answer, and what if?

During this week's class, my group discussed the pros and cons of having a locally controlled school district versus a more Federally controlled educational system.

I have to say,  I view almost every topic of discussion surrounding education as a parent.  I have three elementary school aged girls who I have to say are doing quite well academically.  I know this is a strong bias, but I feel like I know what works with them, what makes a good teacher, and a good academic community.  One of the most important factors in my childrens' academic success has been parental support, expectations, and involvement in the school.  Having said that,  while I believe parent involvement and volunteerism in our schools is paramount, I would like to see more Federal controls in place.

By this I mean that I believe every third grader in the US should be studying the same thing.  I think a third grader in NM should be learning at the same level, at the relatively same time, as a third grader in Virginia or Florida.  If third graders in other states are studying the basic introduction to geometry, so should be our third graders in NM.  This would allow for us to truly compare different school districts in the country, and also ensure us that a basic standard of instruction is being provided every where.  I guess what I'm saying is I'd like to know that my third grader in NM is doing what is considered third grade curriculum in other parts of the country.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that grade level standards need to be more standardized throughout the Nation.  Does that make sense?

One disadvantage to this, obviously, is less control at the local level.  As I said, I am a very active parent at our local elementary school, and I believe the parents there have a voice that is heard by the principal.  She always tries to accommodate our requests as much as possible, and the thought of losing that due to less local control is intimidating indeed.  However, I believe parents can still be highly involved, even in the face of mandated curriculum.  Essentially, we have that now, it is just mandated locally, by the school district.

A perfect example of a lack of standardization is the fact that until last year, different clusters throughout APS had different math curriculum.  Each curriculum was decided upon by the principal...something which is totally stupid. Sandia Cluster was utilizing one curriculum, and Eldorado cluster was using Every Day math.  Well into the beginning of the school year, APS decided to mandate that all children use the same math curriculum.  WOW!!! Talk about a rough transition.  The kids really struggled to adjust to the new curriculum.  It just seems to go without saying that all schools in APS should use the same core curriculum, and that if changes are made, they should be decided upon over the summer and implemented at the beginning of school.

Well...enough of my complaining about some crazy decision making1

differences between education and schooling

One of the topics discussed during last week’s class involved the differences, if any, between education and schooling. At first glance, one may not be able to notice the subtle differences; however, upon further review, there are indeed many.


I believe that education involves the practical and traditional understanding of the compensatory educational process we typically think of in the United States. I would say that most individuals believe that the purpose of education is to instruct children in the basic curriculum. Traditionally, this involves subjects such as reading, writing, arithmetic and so on. Today, we also expect detailed instruction in the sciences, advanced math, technology based fields, and so on.

Perhaps the most important purpose of the educational process is in fact to teach our children about the aforementioned subjects. As a parent, I myself would like instruction in these areas to be exceptional, and for my children to have mastered each and every subject. I want them to actually think for themselves, ask why, and be so intrigued that they will pursue higher education.

However, perhaps equally important is the process of schooling. In my estimation, I view schooling to be the process by which children learn to manage themselves in a social setting. By this I mean that children need to acquire social skills which will help them deal with their peers. In the public school setting especially, children are exposed to many different types of people who have different socio-economic and cultural back grounds. We live in a very global society and it is especially important for children to learn tolerance and acceptance. I believe this is one of the things that children will hopefully learn through their schooling.  Additionally, if children are successful in the schooling process, they will learn how to successfully interact with adults and their teachers. A child must learn to ask questions from adults at school, and be able to explain their ideas and their thought processes to their teachers. This is quite different from them expressing themselves to their parents. It requires self confidence, and an ability to communicate with their “superiors."

 In my belief, one of the main goals of the educational process is for children to become bright, intelligent individuals who will become our future work force and leaders of our communities. It is in the very basic grades that children hopefully learn the basic skills of listening, following instructions, and being able to socialize with many different kinds of people. Without such basic skills, one’s ability to become truly successful and independent is significantly thwarted.